Homeland’s Damian Lewis to play Henry VIII for PBS

Notable ginger Damian Lewis will play historical ginger Henry VIII in the upcoming PBS miniseries Wolf Hall, an adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novel that won the Man Booker prize in 2009. The story chronicles Thomas Cromwell’s ascendance to power in the court of Henry VIII. Lewis will play king to Mark Rylance’s Cromwell, a blacksmith’s son and decidedly middle-class commoner who ended up becoming one of the most powerful men in Britain.

Lewis won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his work on Homeland as the Marine-turned-terrorist-turned-disgraced-politician. Wolf Hall will not only allow him to slip back into his native British accent, it will also allow him to follow in the dubious tradition of Sergeant Nicholas Brody of making questionable decisions because of his love life: Wolf Hall begins with King Henry’s attempts to divorce his current wife, Katherine of Aragon, to marry noblewoman Anne Boleyn.

According to PBS’ press release, the miniseries has begun filming in southwest England. Wolf Hall is slated to air in 2015.